Crackpot satnav route leads to 100ft cliff

North Yorkshire road of death

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Locals in a North Yorkshire village are demanding that satnav companies remove from their databases a rural track recommended by in-car systems as a plausible route from Swaledale to Wensleydale, the BBC reports.

The problem is, the road is unsurfaced and runs alongside a 100ft cliff over which, the concerned villagers reckon, someone will eventually plummet. Carol Porter and hubby Steven, who live beside the carriageway of potential death, have been using their tractor to extricate bogged-down vehicles at the rate of one a week. More seriously, some drivers who are unable to progress attempt a reversing manoeuvre "perilously close to the cliff edge".

Porter told the BBC: "The drivers are going up and through the gate on to the gravel track. You can see it goes from tarmac to the stones - and it's only just passable with 4x4s.

"But we get a lot of sales reps in posh cars coming and they get so cross. We're three miles off the main road and having to turn them back and tell them to take a different road, they're getting really frustrated.

"It's only a matter of time before something happens - and it's a 100ft drop over the edge. We want this sorting out before something terrible happens."

The name of the village in question is, readers will be delighted to learn, Crackpot. The Beeb rather nicely adds that Trafficmaster, "said it had removed the Crackpot route from its mapping database after tests on Wednesday morning".

The parish council is, meanwhile, looking into the matter of suitable warning signage. ®